Page 35 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

Do not excessively covet swords and daggers made by famous masters. Even if you
own a sword or dagger worth 10,000 pieces [hiki] it can be overcome by 100 spears
each worth one hundred pieces. Therefore use the 10,000 pieces to procure 100
spears, and arm 100 men with them. You can in this manner defend yourself in time
of war....
Refrain from frequently bringing from Kyoto actors of the four schools of No for
performances. Instead use the money needed for that purpose to select talented
local actors of sarugaku, and train them in the basic elements of No for the perpetual
enjoyment of this province ... (Lu 1974, vol. i, 172).
These careful injunctions helped preserve the Asakura family for nearly
a century. However, in 1573 they threw their weight against Oda No-
bunaga, were defeated, and destroyed. Yoshikage, the last of the Asakura
daimyo, committed suicide.
By the mid-sixteenth century political decentralization and war-
fare had reached an extreme. Among the sengoku daimyo were some
who dreamed of marching on Kyoto and reuniting the country. The
daimyo who actually started the process of reunification was Oda No-
bunaga, a young daimyo from a small domain on the Pacific coast of
Japan. In 1560 Nobunaga overcame the vastly superior forces of Imagawa
Yoshimoto, the shugo of the three provinces of Suruga, Tótómi, and
Mikawa, at the Battle of Okehazama and captured Yoshimoto. On the
pretext of restoring the Ashikaga Yoshiaki to the shogunate, Nobunaga
moved on Kyoto in 1568. By 1573 he had discarded Yoshiaki and claimed
for himself control over the realm, the tenka, literally "all under heaven."
To confirm his authority to rule the realm Nobunaga made alliances with
some daimyo and crushed others who stood in his way. At the Battle of
Nagashino in 1575, Nobunaga, in alliance with Tokugawa leyasu, another
powerful daimyo from eastern Japan, defeated the forces of Takeda Ka-
tsuyori. Nobunaga's victory owed much to his readiness to adapt new
technology to warfare. The major reason for his victory at Nagashino was
his skillful use of the recently-imported muskets (teppd). Nobunaga orga-
nized his three thousand musketeers in three ranks, with one rank firing
while the others reloaded. This allowed him to deliver a volley every ten
seconds, devastating the mounted warriors of the Takeda. While he was
bringing daimyo of central Japan to heel, Nobunaga also engaged in
bitter campaigns against militant Buddhist groups, especially the monas-
tic armies of Enryakuji on Mount Hiei, which he razed in 1571, and the
supporters of the True Pure Land school of Buddhism organized around
the Honganji who controlled the provinces of Echizen and Kaga and
were as powerful as many daimyo.
Perhaps to spite Buddhist clerics, Nobunaga showed favor to the
Christian missionaries who were beginning to make converts among the
daimyo and commoners of western Japan. Luis Frois, a Jesuit missionary,
was frequently entertained by Nobunaga and has left this vivid portrait
of the ruthless daimyo who rose to be master of the realm of Japan. Frois,
like other European visitors to Japan in the sixteenth century, referred to
the various daimyo as kings or princes:
This king of Owari would be about thirty-seven years old, tall, thin, sparsely bearded,
extremely warlike and much given to military exercises, inclined to works of justice
and mercy, sensitive about his honor, reticent about his plans, an expert in military
strategy, unwilling to receive advice from subordinates, highly esteemed and vener-
ated by everyone, does not drink wine and rarely offers it to others, brusque in his
manner, despises all the other Japanese kings and princes and speaks to them over
his shoulder in a loud voice as if they were lowly servants, obeyed by all as the
absolute lord, has good understanding and good judgment. He despises the kami and
hotoke [Buddhas] and all other pagan superstitions. Nominally belonging to the
Hokke [Lotus] sect, he openly denies the existence of a creator of the universe, the
immortality of the soul, and life after death. He is upright and prudent in all his
dealings and intensely dislikes any delays or long speeches. Not even a prince may
appear before him with a sword. He is always accompanied by at least two thousand

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